I take both. I don't know for sure how much it helps, but it seems to make a difference. I would rather take it and it not be helping than not take it and have problems it would have prevented.
Hmm, okay. Yeah, that's what I meant by my preference being stupid - It's always better to err on the side of "placebo effect" imo.
You should have a long smooth stride whether you are running slow or fast. I would think it would be the opposite and you would be doing more pounding on your joints trying to run fast than slow. How does your foot strike the ground? You should try to land in the center of your foot and not on the heel and then roll to your toes as you push off.
I'm not really sure. Let me check and brb...
Yeah, that seems to be what I'm doing. For reference, I've had several people I know who are serious runners tell me I have naturally excellent form, except for tilting forward slightly too much (which I attribute to still-poor core strength). Could be that it's just my imagination, and the real culprit was just the sudden and dramatic increase in exercise. That would make the most sense. Anyway, for the time being, I seem to be more than fine.
I've always tried to pay attention to everything you and sparrow and ff have said about running, as I honestly have no damn clue. I've actually been thinking for some time about going down to see a guy here who works in association with the university, and is some sort of hardcore gait specialist. But I've been waiting for my new shoes first, because as I said, the ones I have now are complete crap.
What do you want to accomplish with your running? Do you want to be able to run in events or are you just using it as a tool to help lose weight?
I wouldn't mind running an event or two just for kicks, but basically I just want to be able to move faster, and for longer. And not just on the ground. Biking as well. Swimming, that's gonna be some work, as I haven't done it in the "training" sense since I was a kid.
Technically speaking, most (sane people - see: not ff
) would agree that running is actually counterproductive until I'm done with this velocity thing. But I don't care. I want performance and fat loss, not optimal fat loss. In the fall I intend to get back into my martial art, and it requires a great deal of general cardiovascular endurance, so that's part of it, too.
I have always stuck to counting calories and am not up on all the diets. I am not familiar with the V Diet. I will have to look that one up and get familiar with it.
Oh, don't bother unless you've got free time. Essentially, for the last few weeks, I have been getting my nutrients almost exclusively from protein shakes and some healthy fats. I've been supplementing fibre and everything important as well, but in simplest terms it's a very low carb, very low calorie, liquid diet. Sort of a simulated fast, with a single meal of real food per week (usually on a Sat, as I try to be sociable
). The results have been amazing, but I've also noted that if I do much more than the 1 hour of brisk walking a day, I start to stall or even decline in what I can do with weights, which I guess I'm trying to explain is something I consider much more important at this time.
I'm with you here. It is harder for me to take a day off than it is to exercise. It's partially because I want to eat and if I am not burning the calories I can't eat as much and at the same time if I am not exercising I have more time to think about eating.
Hmm. That's interesting. I find the more active I am, the less interested I am in eating. Or sleeping. Or Rest. Haha. I don't quite know what happened, but a few months ago I really got my **** together somehow, and that sort of a thing (love of food, which I surely have some experience with <3) isn't really an issue for me anymore. My problem is more one of being super restless if I stay still. People have been making fun of me for it.
Come the fall and bulking time, however... well.
I actually just started up a new routine a few weeks ago. It's been quite a while since I have done 10 rep sets on lifts, so I think the weights will be going up fairly quickly for a few weeks here. During my bulk I was doing a 4 day body part split, then during my cut I was doing a upper/lower split mixed in with circuit training. I didn't do much after the cut until the marathon, then just before the marathon I had an issue with my legs that has only finally fully come around about a week ago.
Right now I am more focused on triathlon and marathon training. Although I do expect to make gains lifting, I am trying to maintain my weight, gaining maybe a couple more pounds over the summer. I'm really just focusing on performance for my events. After the marathon I will switch my focus to adding mass and strength for about 6 months.
Okay. This is about what I thought. And I guess that's just my impatience talking, as I was even thinking that yesterday - that it hadn't really been very long at all, haha. I mean I have been following your journal for months. XD
Just out of curiosity, how many calories a day does it take to keep a monster like you fed? ^_^
